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Morgan Hertel

YARMOUTH, Maine—Ever since rumblings of a POTS sunset began last year, the security industry has been concerned with where a dependable communications pathway would come from. Most eyes have turned to broadband and GSM as two alternatives. With the March 20 announcement of AT&T’s agreement to buy competitor T-Mobile for $39 billion, a new wrinkle to the communications pathway has been introduced with which the security industry must contend, assuming the acquisition passes muster with the SEC.

LOS ANGELES—The idea of mobile security has been around for a while, but according to some security industry observers, the proliferation of smartphone use and technology may signal the real advent of the mobile security market.

The controversy surrounding Article 6-E—proposed legislation in New York that looks to vet and license central station employees according to statewide standards—has many in the industry talking about central station employee training. There are plenty of virtual and classroom training options provided by industry associations like CSAA and SIA. And, many monitoring companies take full control and create their own training programs for employees.

LOS ANGELES—A new end user-focused security solution running with the tagline, “See inside your home with unlimited, FREE alarm monitoring,” looks to neatly remove professional monitoring services from the home security equation, saving end users money, while potentially eating into dealer and central station RMR.

ALBANY, N.Y.—Proposed legislation being developed by an alarm association committee here has created such a stir that the New York Burglar & Fire Alarm Association has decided to conduct an open forum discussion at its Feb. 10 board of directors meeting.

HORSHAM, Pa.—Mace CEO Dennis Raefield has steered clear of the speaker circuit in the past two years as he’s concentrated on resolving some of Mace’s well-publicized problems. With most of those headaches behind him now, and solid indications that the company is getting “very close to the break-even stage,” Raefield has plans to speak at the Imperial Capital Security investor conference in a couple weeks.